For centuries, keys for musical instruments such as organs, pianos, harpsichords, and the like have been made of wood. Wood has many desirable, but also some undesirable, properties. Responsive to temperature and humidity, wood can shrink or expand, warp, and twist. Long before the advent of modern precision machinery, musical instrument manuals required precise fitting of parts to avoid malfunctions. Ingenious traditional methods for building manuals have developed over centuries to address both the properties of wood and the lack of precision tools of times past. Traditional manual building is labor-intensive and requires superb craftsmanship. Since the 1930's, demand for mass-produced instruments has induced inventors to develop mass-producible manual designs. Most modern manuals largely comprise components made metal and plastic, both of which are more stable than wood, can be stamped or molded, and can be assembled using unskilled or semi-skilled labor.
Since pianos and harpsichords are generally mechanically operated, their key design is constrained by the interactions between keys and other mechanical parts. Though tracker (mechanically operated) organs are still built, the keys of most organs now operate electrically. For the last hundred years, despite many being fitted with electrical contacts, most organ keys have been mechanically long from their playing surfaces to the far (distal) ends of their key levers. Key lengths of eighteen inches or more have not been uncommon. Over the years, manuals for organs, and now for electronic keyboards, have been made more compact, with shorter keys. Today's keyboards typically comprise molded plastic key assemblies wherein the distance from the front of their playing surface to their integrally molded plastic spring is usually about six inches. Such manuals are economical, but their short effective-pivot radius tends to induce or aggravate carpal tunnel problems. Traditional manuals with long effective-pivot radii are easier on players' wrists. This consideration, along with adherence to traditions, underlies the preference of many organists for traditional wooden manuals.
As will be shown below, much effort has been expended and great ingenuity applied in the last century to avoid making wooden keys for manuals. Comparatively little work has been done to use modern tools and materials to overcome, rather than to avoid, the difficulties of making wooden keys. The present invention departs from most modern work by improving the manufacturability of wooden manuals while preserving and even improving their traditional function.